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Apples
Blueberries |
The ManyTracks Orchard Canadian Strawberry
discovered in Solon, Maine -- planted early 1900's
Antonovka rootstock, from Fedco 2013
Carroll grafted to top 2018-21
First Fruit 2023
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Akero |
Hoholik |
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Purchased from Fedco in 2013 on standard Antonovka rootstock, as a fall ripening apple with unknown parentage. They report it as a "superb tasting dessert apple, juicy, distinctly tart full flavored ... keeps for about a month ... very good early season cider". Sounded good to me. They give it a zone rating of 4-5 which is a little worrisome but I decided to give it a try anyway. Leaves are late to go dormant and fall (as are some others - Black Oxford, Starkey, Smokehouse). 2024 - main tree (with Carroll) - Did fine this year. Small crop of 8 apples. First fruit dropped 9/10. Four days later realized birds were enjoying the fruit by tasting almost every one! Picked all but two (picked week later picked). Flavor just OK -- think picked too early, and damage didn't help. 9/22 more flavor, good eating. But by first Oct. those left were getting mealy. Next year I'll cover fruit with tule bags early on and let them ripen more on tree. #2 - Because of the possible issues (see 2023 below) with the main tree I cut scions late winter to graft elsewhere. Decided I had plenty of Starkey's (two own trees plus a fairly large part of BeaconS) so grafted 4 Canadian Strawberry scions onto one of the smaller Starkey's (C), which decided to come through with a nice crop of a dozen good apples in spite of its youth. So I didn't cut off the Starkey originals yet; I'll wait till the CanSB grafts grow more. 2023 - Tree growing nicely with moderate new growth. And finally (after ten years) - blossoms!! 27 of them. Carefully watched ten apples (3# 13oz) grow. 10/6 two dropped so picked other 8. Background color nice pink/yellow, beautiful smooth medium-large fruit. Nice sweet with flavor, good sweet-tart balance, nice medium juice and tender-firm texture. Very nice apple! Easy eating. Good timing between late summer apples (Beacon, Dudley, Goodland) and late storage (Haralson, Black Oxford). Goes to top tier of delicious apples for us, with Goodland, Discovery, Seek-no-Further. We enjoyed eating the apples through October. Last one 10/27 was still flavorful but on the edge of mealy, possibly one of the first drops. Likely should pick these a as soon as they appear ripe and don't wait for them to drop. The deep wound on trunk is disconcerting but it doesn't appear to be diseased and tree is growing around it (though not closing over yet). Unfortunately, there is also a crack in the trunk where the west lowest (fairly large) limb attaches (apparently poorly). Need to keep an eye on that. Consider next spring if there is a way to reinforce there. Marked to cut a scion to graft elsewhere 'just in case'. Am a little concerned about the hardiness of this tree but hopeful the Carroll grafted on top will help pull it through any hard winter. This challenging hot-dry summer didn't appear to bother it. I want to keep this tree going! 2022 - No bloom yet. Healthy enough, decent growth, looks fine. Noticed fairly large healing wound on trunk where branch had been cut off earlier. Carroll also doing OK. 2021 - Grafted another Carroll to even out the top. Tree did fine, even had a few blossoms. Carroll grafts look good. Interesting that in the fall the Carroll grafts dropped their leaves with most other apples, Canadian Strawberry tree didn't, as usual (along with Black Oxford and a few others). 2020 - Mid April pruned off 2 lowest branches. Good year, healthy, moderate growth. Carroll grafts on leader growing fine (2018-19).
2019 - Good year, healthy, moderate growth. Grafted two more Carrolls just below last year's; one died. 2018 - Grew well, vigorous 9-19" growth. Looking good. Didn’t drop leaves though cold fall. Grafted hardy Carroll onto top leader to hopefully help hardiness. Graft grew 6". 2017 - Tied down lower side branch to more horizontal. Pruned off one of two centers. Looking good, nice moderate growth. Didn’t drop leaves in fall (once again). Plan to graft something hardy to top of center leader. Concerned about continued hardiness/dormancy. 2016 - Doing better, more growth. Keep main "new trunk" branch dominant (tied to lower branch to more upright position--worked well). Prune off bottom branch next year, too large diameter. 2015 - Doing fine but slow growth. Chose one of the surviving branches and tied it more upright, pruned the others back, removing one. 2014 - Hard winter. Died back to snow line over winter. Several limbs below 2 ft snow survived. let grow. I need to pay more attention to those zone ratings! 2013 - Purchased from Fedco on standard Antonovka rootstock, as a fall ripening apple with unknown parentage. They report it as a "supurb tasting dessert apple, juicy distinctly tart full flavored ... very good early season cider". Sounded good to me. They give it a zone rating of 4-5 which is a little worrisome but I decided to give it a try anyway. That first year the leaves had some scab, blight and rust. Two large caterpillars devoured most of the leaves before I noticed them. But the tree regrew leaves and finished the season OK. |
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